» Juan Williams Exposes The Racist Euphemisms Used By Republican Candidates Liberal Values

Juan Williams Exposes The Racist Euphemisms Used By Republican Candidates

January 30, 2012 — Ron Chusid

Juan Williams exposes the racism in the GOP campaign at The Hill:

The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are “entitlement society” — as used by Mitt Romney — and “poor work ethic” and “food stamp president” — as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core “old-fashioned American values.”

The code also extends to attacks on legal immigrants, always carefully lumped in with illegal immigrants, as people seeking “amnesty” and taking jobs from Americans…

The former Speaker has declared that black people should demand jobs instead of food stamps. And he has proposed having poor students work as janitors in their high schools. Regardless of how they were intended, poor people and minorities sense that with those comments Gingrich is winking — some call it “dog whistling” — at certain white audiences by intimating that black people are lazy, happy to live off the government and lacking any intellect.

With comments like this, I wonder how long Williams will remain at Fox. Apparently exposure to ideas at NPR has made a difference. Getting outside of the right wing bubble from time to time might do wonders for other conservatives.

I’ll undoubtedly receive a response from a Republican insisting that he is not racist because he will claim that it is true that blacks are just interested in food stamps and immigrants take American jobs. I’ve certainly received a lot of defenses of Ron Paul’s racist newsletters based upon such logic. The Republican leadership provides a form of legitimacy to such prejudices.

Posted in Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republicans, Ron Paul. Tags: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Racism, Republicans, Ron Paul. RSS feed for comments on this post.. TrackBack URL.

Tracy says:

January 31st 2012 at 5:10 pm

“immigrants take American jobs” – can anyone really say this as immigrants are Americans now?

Ron Chusid says:

January 31st 2012 at 5:21 pm

Sure they can say it. I hear conservatives say all sorts of off the wall things.

(I received a particularly repulsive conservative response to an older post today and have not decided yet whether to put it through. Most of the time I decide there is no point in doing anything to spread their hateful rants.)

Matt Osborne (@OsborneInk) says:

January 31st 2012 at 5:52 pm

Williams had the “two masters” problem before — NPR has very high standards, while FOX Noise has none — so perhaps losing the one master has given him a chance to better appreciate the other master’s shortcomings?

bob says:

January 31st 2012 at 7:22 pm

However deplorable, race is just a tool to build vote count. Sad as it is for those who suffer discrimination, it is just an orchestrated show put on by these stooges of the ultra-rich. The REAL goal of the GOP and the behind the scenes tea party astroturfers is perpetuating financial benefits for the ultra rich. All other priorities recinded, crew expendable.